Illinois al-Qaida conspirator to be sentenced this week

October 25, 2009

A Bradley University graduate and convicted al-Qaida conspirator is expected to be sentenced this week in federal court in Peoria, bringing to a close an eight-year case that shocked an Illinois college town and drew the attention of two presidential administrations.

Ali al-Marri, 44, pleaded guilty in April to conspiring with and providing support for al-Qaida operatives in the months before and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Marri admitted to having met with two key architects of the 9/11 attacks, participating in terrorist training camps in Pakistan, and researching cyanide compounds and other chemical agents purportedly for an attack on U.S. soil.

But few details about what Marri intended to do with that information have been made public. Marri pleaded guilty before a trial could begin, so while U.S. prosecutors have described at length his communications with al-Qaida leaders before 9/11, they have provided only a rough outline for what the soft-spoken Marri had planned when he arrived back in the U.S. on Sept. 10, 2001.

Those details could emerge in court Wednesday, when prosecutors push for a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Marri's attorneys are seeking a reduced sentence and credit for the eight years their client has remained in custody since his arrest on a credit card fraud charge in 2001. In 2003, while Marri was awaiting trial in Peoria, the Bush administration labeled him an "enemy combatant" and ordered him detained at a Navy brig in South Carolina without charge.

"Although (Marri's) conduct was serious and deserving of appropriate punishment," his attorneys wrote in a court filing, "he was a minor player ... his actions did not cause harm to anyone ... and his involvement in any future plot was entirely speculative."

Marri's defense team intends to argue that the nearly six years their client had endured in solitary confinement was more than enough punishment for a father of five who appeared "humbled" by his incarceration. Attorneys have described Marri's time in the brig as "brutal" and "inhumane" but have yet to provide details beyond the defendant being forced to serve most of that time in isolation.

For legal scholars, the Marri case combines elements of law and military authority, and raises as many political questions as legal ones.